Midsomer Murders – Breaking the Chain

Series 18 continues in its slumping ways, with a third episode that fails to inspire. Sadly, unlike last week, there isn’t even much of tangential interest in ‘Breaking the Chain’ – it’s simply a dull watch, with a cast of characters that all blur into one and an unfair mystery that is as irritating as it is bland. This marks the halfway point of the series, and Midsomer still hasn’t provided an instalment that is actually worth watching.

An international cycling competition has come to Midsomer – in the local leg, Greg Eddon defies team orders and beats Mitch McCordell (Tom York) at the last minute. His excitement is short-lived, however, as he is murdered shortly after. Barnaby and Nelson investigate, discovering both family and sporting rivalries that provide many motives for Eddon’s death – but is the promise of the competition enough to drive someone to commit murder? Or, given local opposition to the racing, including that of environmentalist Gerry Bleacher (Richard Graham), could Eddon’s death simply be collateral damage? Barnaby must enter a world of blackmail and bribery to find the truth.

A cycling episode may seem an interesting premise (and has been used before to some success, such as ‘The Glitch’), but ‘Breaking the Chain’ doesn’t do much with it (save an opening cycle race that goes on forever). We’ve a couple of themed murders, one of which is boring and one of which is so ludicrous I can’t decide whether it’s stupid or a piece of Midsomer brilliance. This is a shame, because there’s little in the way of mystery – you won’t figure it out anyway, because you don’t get much relevant information until the actual reveal of who did it at the end. You get the feeling that writer Chris Murray didn’t know where he was going, and just added a random ending – it’s insulting, and it doesn’t work.

‘Breaking the Chain’ is another mediocre episode in what is sadly shaping up to be a run of them

Otherwise, ‘Breaking the Chain’ is full of padding, with lots of subplots that go nowhere and aren’t very interesting about it. I normally praise the cast, but the only characters with any resonance were simply the people I recognised. Tessa Peake-Jones plays a landlady and competition organiser who seemingly has a dark secret, Joe McGann plays her co-worker and Graham (in his second Midsomer) is one-note as a protestor. Theirs is the best part of the episode, but that sadly isn’t saying too much. You may find something to love in the rest of the cast, but the sheer lack of character meant that I really didn’t care.

The main cast here are a mixed bag – Dudgeon and Dolman have figured out their chemistry as a married couple, and their subplot (trying to get baby Betty to say ‘mama’ or ‘dada’ for her first word) is sweet and endearing. It’s Gwilym Lee that I feel sorry for – he has also developed a nice rapport with Dudgeon but, because the editors have designed that Nelson has a sparring partnership with Kam, he’s stuck with her. She’s being played as condescending and superior, and she’s not a character I enjoy at all. I know some fans complained about previous pathologist Kate being boring, but I’d take her any day to someone who is actively unpleasant.

‘Breaking the Chain’ is another mediocre episode in what is sadly shaping up to be a run of them – it doesn’t work as a mystery, and there’s nothing else to hold your interest. It’s an episode that does about everything wrong, and it’s so boring as a result that even re-watching it for this review was arduous. I really hope that the latter half of the series picks up, or we may start hoping that Midsomer goes the way of so many of its residents.